Customer Reviews

The Joy of Conflict Resolution: Transforming Victims, Villains and Heroes in the Workplace and at Home

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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The joy of conflict resolution? Conflict is something most of us either avoid or confront in unproductive ways. No wonder the result is anything but joyful. Thankfully there's a better way and this light-hearted and easy to read book shows us how. Gary Harper is a brilliant facilitator and mediator whose training sessions are as much fun as they are insightful. He brings these same qualities to his first publishing effort.

The Joy of Conflict Resolution helps us to understand what lies beneath our own attitudes about conflict. It lets us step outside of the emotional grip of conflict and reassess our actions objectively. As a result, we are able employ solutions that meet our own needs and respect all involved. This is a must-read for anyone wanting to learn to navigate conflict and come to resolutions that are, well, positively joyful.

This book is a "must read" for those who want to stay working with the organization they are with but who are frustrated by inter-personal confrontations at work. In a gentle, often humorous manner, it provides explanations for what is happening, and why. Readers are encouraged to be introspective about their own triggers. Each chapter concludes with proven practical tips to use, such as "listen first" or "pause before you speak".

My suggestion - read it, at your leisure. Whether you are a frustrated manager, a disgruntled employee, a parent looking for a different way of communicating with your teen or your spouse, an individual involved in a specific conflict, a mediator or a dispute resolution trainer, you will acquire at least one new insight that will make your life better.

Deborah Lynn Zutter, June 10, 2005

Entertaining read with some useful information and a simple model for change and resolution in some, mostly benign, environments. The basic positions described offer a functional insight for simplification of how to rethink our roles with others. While useful, the concept is oversimplified when individual intent is added as another variable. In a world of sunshine and roses where everyone operates from a basis of good will to others, it provides a useful insight for avoiding common relationship road bumps. For more ardent conflicts based on deeply held judgments, deception, long patterns of passive aggressive fears and anger this simple model is way outgunned.

Over all, a good read and useful idea.

If you read this book, be sure to read "I'm OK, You're OK" by Thomas Harris, as it will help add important new dimension to the concepts.

These two books should be combined for at least 4 times the benefit.

This book does an excellent job of presenting sophisticated

ideas in an accessible and practical way. There is a constant

interchange throughout between theory and practice. Early in

the book we are introduced to the employees of a fictitious

and often dysfunctional company, appropriately and humourously

named Turm-Oil. These characters then serve as the cornerstone

for exploring various conflicts and processes for their

resolution. I found this approach particularly effective, since

the more these conflicts are revisited from different angles,

and from the points of view and interests of the protagonists,

the more understandable and resolvable they become. Although

the main examples of conflict resolution are drawn from this

organizational group, the necessary skills and approaches are

seen to be readily transferable to conflict within family groups

or any other social context. This is a book which manages to

be useful and instructive in a practical and entertaining way.

I recommend it wholeheartedly.

This book reads like a novel or perhaps a good sitcom on people's workplaces. That is what sets it apart from other workplace conflict resolution books. It applies the conflict resolution skills and concepts in a humourous way in a workplace setting with characters, dialogue and clear explanations. A easy way to learn. This is the perfect book to recommend to beginners and would be a great book to make part of a course registration. Whatever, I enjoyed it.

Immensely readable! Eye-opening stuff written with humour. Easy to relate to, and to laugh at yourself. Also practical for learning better ways to deal with relationships we all have. As an educator, I wish there were more texts like this available that students will enjoy reading and really learn from. Highly recommended.

Part of my management consulting involves helping people develop an understanding of how and why conflict happens. This book is now required reading for all my clients as it lays out in an easy to read and entertaining way the fundamental understandings of how some people choose to see themselves in the world. Feedback I have received is that it is informative, funny, relevant and definately worth spending the time reading and rereading. And I agree. One leadership team has made it mandatory reading for the entire company. I think it is a must read and reread book.

A really good book on how conflict manfests itself in day to day interactions. Set in a fictional but realistic work environment with very well described and identified character types. This book takes the 'stressful' conversations we all have and the troublesome people we all know and shows you how to dialogue and approach the situation in a new way. A lot of fun to read. "Ah ha's" and "lightbulbs" went off on several occassions when I was reading through this book - its amasing how the portrayed characters mirror so closely people I know! Even better are the scenarios explaining alternative means of dealing with these character types using simple word changes and a more focused communicaton approach. An excellent read and a good reference for simple ways and tools for improving both personal and work relationships.

Very good introduction to the drama triangle, it's dynamics and how to deal with people reacting in the drama triangle.